My 2015 In Books

So, here I am, with a hoarse throat and the cold rendering my feet useless. I look at the date and wonder why the hell I haven’t written a single post in 2016 yet. There is so much to talk about. So may things have happened in the past three weeks I must have lost track.

I am simply in love with Goodreads. It doesn’t just help you find books you might like, it helps you keep track of how big your to-read pile actually is (of course, it all depends on whether you know how thick each book is and if you’re actually even including every books that intrigues you). And best of all, it gives you a “Year in Books” page, where they put together your reading stats from all year round, provided that you document your reads to the best of your abilities.

If you take the Reading Challenge, all the better, because you can see what percentage of the challenge you’ve accomplished.

But, of course, if you use Goodreads you know all that. Or some of it, at least.

Last year, your’s truly read 31 books. I know it’s not much. I’ve read more the year before, I think. But, considering how all my batch-mates were wallowing in worry about their exams and didn’t even have time for naps, I’m sort of proud of that number.

Here’s the complete list, in no particular order:

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Dune by Frank Herbert
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
Use Your Head by Tony Buzan
Winter by Marissa Meyer
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Fairest by Marissa Meyer
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephenie Perkins
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
The Alchemist by Paolo Cuelho
The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger
5 to 1 by Holly Bodger
The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
The 39 Clues: One False Note by Gordon Korman
The 39 Clues: Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis
The 39 Clues: Beyond The Grave by Jude Watson
The 39 Clues: The Black Circle by Patrick Carman
The 39 Clues: In Too Deep by Jude Watson
The 39 Clues: The Vipers Nest by Peter Lerangis
The 39 Clues: The Emperor’s Code by Gordon Korman
The 39 Clues: Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park
The 39 Clues: Into The Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The 39 Clues: Vespers Rising by Rick Riordan
The 39 Clues: Cahills vs Vespers: The Medusa Plot by Gordon Korman
The 39 Clues: Cahills vs Vespers: The King’s Ransom by Jude Watson
The 39 Clues: Cahills vs Vespers: The Dead of Night by Peter Lerangis

I read the 39 Clues series in that order, of course. All these books left different feelings with me in the end. Some had me grinning like an idiot. Some left me reeling. Some, I even regretting reading in the long run.

For instance, I remember really liking Atlas Shrugged right after finishing it, but it taxed my neural synapses and caused the worst case of writers’ block I experienced.

The 39 Clues series, on the other hand, is basically aimed for kids between the ages of 12-15. I’m going to be 18 this year, and I still love them.

I only read two books that came out last year. Namely, Winter by Marissa Meyer and Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. Also, only one non-fiction book was given the chance. The longest books was Atlas Shrugged (eloquent drunkard, according to the many single-star reviews), and the shortest was The Old Man and the Sea. Mockingbird was the most popular and Use Your Head the least. And last but not the least, the book that recieved the highest rating was Winter.

This list os going to be added as a seperate page under the My Reads page. And this year, I vow to review all the books listed in the pages this year. In Sha Allah.

On a side-note, I finished reading the Cahills vs Vespers series by the 21st of this month, and am currently plowing through the pages of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. If you’ve got books you think I should read and/or have read some of the ones I’ve read, do share your thoughts in the comments below!